Sand Winning in Ghana: Balancing Construction Needs with Environmental Survival

Ghana’s rapid urbanisation, population growth and infrastructure expansion have created an enormous demand for sand. Houses, roads, schools, factories, hospitals and commercial buildings all require substantial quantities of fine aggregates. Sand winning has consequently become an important economic activity, providing construction materials, employment and income for excavator operators, tipper-truck drivers, manual loaders, landowners and traders.

Yet the same activity supporting Ghana’s physical development is steadily destroying the land, water and natural defences on which communities depend. Across farming districts, river basins and coastal settlements, poorly regulated extraction is removing fertile soil, damaging roads, altering waterways and accelerating erosion. Ghana is therefore confronting a difficult contradiction: the country needs sand to develop, but the uncontrolled methods used to obtain it threaten the foundations of that development.

Sand winning is not inherently illegal in Ghana. The Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703) provides the principal legal framework governing mineral extraction, while operators are required to obtain the necessary mineral rights and environmental approvals. The Minerals Commission is responsible for monitoring mining and industrial-mineral operations, issuing waybills and enforcing compliance, including mine closure and land rehabilitation.

The deeper problem is that a significant share of the industry operates outside these requirements. Although claims that more than 80 per cent of Ghana’s sand operations are illegal circulate widely, no reliable national register or comprehensive study appears to substantiate that precise figure. What the available evidence clearly demonstrates is widespread unauthorised extraction and weak enforcement. The absence of reliable national data is itself a governance failure because regulators cannot manage an industry they have not adequately mapped.

The commercial attraction is understandable. Construction companies and individual property developers require a continuous supply of sand, while the industry offers immediate income in communities where formal employment is scarce. Sand extraction also has a relatively low entry barrier compared with many other businesses. A land agreement, an excavator and access to trucks can quickly turn a rural area into a commercial extraction site.

However, the private income generated by the activity often conceals enormous public costs. Operators may earn money from the sale of sand, while farmers lose their land, district assemblies repair damaged roads, families face health risks and future governments inherit the cost of restoring abandoned pits. The industry can therefore appear profitable only because many of its environmental and social costs are transferred to communities and the state.

The damage to agriculture is particularly severe. A 2024 peer-reviewed study of sand mining around Accra found that extraction significantly reduced important soil nutrients and affected soil properties, agricultural productivity, water availability, local roads and residents’ health.

Sand winning on agricultural land frequently removes the nutrient-rich topsoil needed to support crops. Once this layer has been stripped away, farmers may be left with infertile subsoil, deep excavations and an uneven landscape that is difficult and expensive to restore. For families whose livelihoods depend on maize, cassava, vegetables, pineapple and other crops, the destruction can eliminate a productive asset built over generations.

The situation in the Ayensuano District illustrates the seriousness of the problem. In a statement delivered in Parliament on July 1, 2025, the Member of Parliament for Ayensuano reported extensive damage to farmland in communities including Coaltar, Kraboa, Otuase, Anfaso, Asuboi and Aye Kukuso. The statement linked sand winning to declining soil fertility, erosion, abandoned pits, land conflicts and threats to food production.

The controversy has also produced violence. Parliament was informed that two people were killed and others injured in January 2025 during a confrontation involving farmers, landowners, sand miners and alleged land guards at Krabo in the Ayensuano Constituency. This demonstrates that uncontrolled extraction is no longer only an environmental matter; it has become a problem of land rights, community safety and public order.

Abandoned pits create additional dangers. During the rainy season, they collect stagnant water and may become mosquito-breeding sites. Deep excavations can also expose children, livestock and unsuspecting residents to injury or drowning. Dust from excavation and truck movements affects air quality, while heavily loaded vehicles damage community roads that were not designed for continuous industrial traffic.

The consequences are equally serious along rivers and the coast. Extracting sand from riverbeds can alter water flow, increase turbidity, destabilise banks and damage aquatic habitats. Removing material from beaches and dunes weakens the natural barriers that protect coastal communities from waves and storm surges.

World Bank research on West Africa describes sand as the world’s second-most-consumed natural resource after water and links poorly regulated coastal extraction to biodiversity loss, declining water quality, lower water tables and weakened storm protection. It cites research associating sand mining with elevated coastal-erosion rates in Accra, Moree and Cape Coast.

Ghana’s primary weakness is therefore not the complete absence of laws. It is the failure to coordinate and enforce them consistently. Parliament has identified inadequate cooperation among the Minerals Commission, the environmental regulator and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies. Resource limitations also prevent regulators from maintaining a strong presence in every affected community.

Traditional authorities and landowners further complicate the system. Some agreements are concluded without meaningful consultation with tenant farmers and other people who depend on the land. Receiving permission from a chief, family head or landowner does not remove the legal obligation to obtain mineral and environmental approvals. Neither should a private payment authorise the permanent destruction of a community’s agricultural resources.

Ghana must begin by establishing a comprehensive national register of sand-winning sites, operators, equipment owners and transporters. Satellite imagery, drones and digital mapping can identify new excavations and enable authorities to compare operations with approved concessions. Every truckload should be traceable through an electronic waybill linked to a licensed site.

District spatial plans should designate where extraction may occur and identify protected areas where it must be prohibited. Active farmland, wetlands, riverbanks, beaches, forest reserves, water-catchment areas and locations close to homes or public infrastructure should not be sacrificed simply because they contain commercially valuable sand.

Every licence should also be supported by a properly assessed reclamation plan and an upfront financial guarantee. The amount should reflect the expected cost of backfilling pits, reshaping the land, replacing topsoil, restoring drainage and replanting vegetation. If an operator abandons a site, the state should use the guarantee to complete the rehabilitation rather than transferring the cost to affected communities.

Enforcement must focus on the entire commercial chain. Arresting manual workers while ignoring contractors, excavator owners, financiers and buyers will not solve the problem. Equipment used in persistent illegal operations should be impounded through lawful procedures, while construction companies and public contractors should be required to prove that their sand originated from authorised sites.

Ghana must also reduce its dependence on naturally occurring sand. Properly manufactured sand produced by crushing suitable rock can replace natural sand in many construction applications when it meets engineering standards. Recycled construction materials may also provide aggregates for selected uses. These alternatives require quality testing and investment, but they can reduce pressure on farmland, rivers and beaches.

Sand winning cannot simply be prohibited nationwide because construction would not stop; instead, extraction would become more secretive and prices would rise. The practical solution is to formalise and regulate the industry, restrict operations to environmentally suitable locations, enforce restoration obligations and develop alternative materials.

Ghana does not have to choose between building its cities and protecting its environment. The country must instead ensure that today’s construction does not destroy tomorrow’s farms, rivers, roads and coastal communities. Sand may be essential to development, but extracting it without discipline converts a valuable natural resource into an environmental and social catastrophe.